Supervisors explore veterans assistance package

Riverside County officials last week supported Supervisor Jeff Stone's call to develop a comprehensive county program to provide an array of services to veterans who are homeless, out of work or in need of health care.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint a committee composed of Stone, Supervisor John Tavaglione and a deputy chief executive to study the matter and return with a specific proposal.

"I want to end homelessness among our veterans in Riverside County within 12 months," Stone said, noting that a 2011 survey found that nearly 900 veterans did not have homes.

Stone has proposed an array of services for veterans, including housing, job placement, medical and mental health care, and social services.

Stone's colleagues also persuaded him to tweak the acronym he had coined for the occasion: VALER (Veteran Assistance Legislation Encompassing Riverside County).

Noting that Stone misspelled valor, Tavaglione said, "I would ask that you change the e to o."

And Chairman John Benoit asked that Stone change "legislation" to "leadership."

Stone consented to the requests. With the changes, the new acronym VALOR became Veteran Assistance Leadership of Riverside County.

A week earlier, Stone proposed an expanded local assistance program during a board discussion about the impacts of across-the-board automatic federal budget cuts. Those cuts are expected to cut off some veterans from potentially receiving housing vouchers in Riverside County.

"I believe as a county we should adopt a new program called No Veterans Left Behind," Stone said. "It should be a comprehensive program countywide."